Me, read short stories?

I am not a short story kind of person. I don’t generally write ’em, and I don’t ordinarily read ’em. I just don’t.

An anthology now and then, yes. Or very occasionally I’ll track down a short story by a friend or one that was recommended. But basically, I read novels.

But I read quite a few short stories in February and March so I could have a couple to nominate for the WF award. My basic criterion was simple: I read only stories that were available online, and only stories written in 2010 so they’d be eligible to be nominated.

And I found two I loved! Along with a story I LOATHED but have to admit was very effectively written, plus lots that I liked pretty well, but not enough to nominate. Here are the two that I nominated:

Peter Watts’ “The Things”

and

Nikki Alfar’s “Bearing Fruit”

The former is an extremely clever riff on “Who Goes There?”, which is a great novella by John W Campbell that even I had read.

The latter is a delightful fairy-tale kind of story told in this really engaging second-person voice.

I loved them both, and now, hey, I actually care about which 2010 short story wins major awards!

But don’t blame me if you read Ponies and then have nightmares. I’m not kidding.